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Old 03-21-2023, 02:44 AM
Drew Lowry Drew Lowry is offline
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Default Currently on the bench...

Just a quick snapshot of the goings-on in the workshop just now. I have two Carrick models at the same stage of construction - soundboxes bound, ready for neck fitting.

I build in a fairly traditional way, single sides, conventional x-bracing, no carbon fibre etc. My only nod to modernity is probably the fully bolted neck, which I'll get into in a later post.

Here are the two of them in their current state.





First up is a cutaway in dark-chocolate straight-grained Madagascar rosewood and Swiss spruce. This one is headed to Woodsound in South Korea.





And a few from earlier in the process, mainly because I find the innards of a florentine cutaway fascinating







The second is a non-cutaway, again with a Swiss spruce top (my standard go-to...), and a spectacular set of Bastogne walnut for the back and sides.






Last edited by Drew Lowry; 03-22-2023 at 02:03 AM. Reason: Posted thumbnails instead of the actual images
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Old 03-22-2023, 02:07 AM
Drew Lowry Drew Lowry is offline
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So, seems I posted thumbnails rather than the actual images - now corrected.

And for those interested, here are a couple of shots of my workshop.





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Old 03-22-2023, 06:22 AM
Doctor7 Doctor7 is offline
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Wow! Beautiful work, congrats!
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Old 03-22-2023, 06:23 AM
Carpinteria Carpinteria is offline
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Thanks for posting, Drew. Woods and work are admirable! And what a clean shop! I look forward to seeing more. Thanks, Dave
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Old 03-22-2023, 11:46 AM
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Love the clean lines, beautiful wood, and amazing woodworking displayed in the pictures. Also look forward to more!!
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Old 03-22-2023, 09:18 PM
jmat jmat is offline
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I agree with the other posts: beautiful lines, elegant design, gorgeous woods and superb craftsmanship. Come to a US guitar show one day, we’ll treat you right!
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Old 03-24-2023, 01:05 PM
Drew Lowry Drew Lowry is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jmat View Post
I agree with the other posts: beautiful lines, elegant design, gorgeous woods and superb craftsmanship. Come to a US guitar show one day, we’ll treat you right!
Thanks! I'd love to get to a US show at some point.

Just to complete the soundboxes on these two, here are the endgrafts that I do as standard. Box inlays to match the binding/purfling scheme.







This is of course customisable, as on this guitar with ebony back and sides, ebony binding, and flamed koa endgraft.

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Old 03-24-2023, 02:18 PM
IraDuncan IraDuncan is offline
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Drew-
You, Sir, are a craftsman.

I'm a sucker for walnut.
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Old 04-01-2023, 02:21 AM
Drew Lowry Drew Lowry is offline
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Finished the neck-set on these two yesterday. I switched from a traditional dovetail to a bolt-on about 5 years ago. This is the first step - setting the geometry, fitting the heel bolts and finessing the heel-to-body join.

Next step is adding a fingerboard extension which is also attached with light-gauge bolts, the whole neck attachment being glue-free. All will become clear in the next post





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Old 04-01-2023, 04:23 AM
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Drew, the contours on these body shapes are so beautiful.
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Old 04-01-2023, 05:45 AM
Drew Lowry Drew Lowry is offline
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Quote:
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Drew, the contours on these body shapes are so beautiful.
Thanks! I redesigned my body shapes around 5 years ago, aiming for more organic flowing lines. Glad you like the result [emoji846].
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Old 04-05-2023, 11:09 AM
Drew Lowry Drew Lowry is offline
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Here we have the neck join completed. The internal neck block is L-shaped, with the top piece butting up against the transverse brace of the top. The neck extension is bolted to this, giving a solid joint, and good support for the fingerboard extension.

full disclosure, I didn't come up with this. The first person I saw using it was Dion James of Dion Guitars, who kindly gave permission to incorporate it in my work, but apparently Trevor Gore had already been using it for some years.

Anyhow, it works well for me. In purely practical terms, being able to finish neck and body separately is a big plus as I have a small sprayroom, and the level-sanding/buffing process is also easier.










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